This third post is a kind of catch-all of some of the things I'm planning on bringing to BFest to offer up for sale, or "almost-free to highest-donation," a concept I'm still figuring out how to say. Like Desert Night Creations' Heather Moreton, I'm not leaving the hobby (heavens no), just cleaning! (Interior complaining at how much I've hoarded.) We have a bewildering variety to start with: Two paper copies of the Guide, a Westerly Design/Karen Gerhardt If I Could Fly tile medallion (above), a Paasche airbrush, some dollhouse hardware from what can only be called "miniature carousel dreams," and a bunch of what I call "Never to be Used Freaks of Nature" or overflow tackmaking junk. It runs the gamut from 'sell at cost' to a more realistic 'give away for best donation.'
Alongside of this is my mother-in-law's collection of needlepoint materials, one woman's lifetime assembly of sewing tools and supplies which has been sitting around since 2013 when I got it by default. My mother-in-law, Ruth White Young, passed away in 2020 but lost the ability to sew long before then, and when she asked me what I was going to do with all those precious bags, I replied, "Give them away at BreyerFest to some deserving soul." She gave me a basilisk stare but then nodded approval. Unfortunately, I did nothing for a decade. Now as I finally go through them, I re-assess how vast her treasure is. Should I ask for a donation and then give it to charity?
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From the top: Here is a closer view of Karen Gerhardt's truly lovely If I Could Fly, still in plastic wrap. It's a much nicer blue than this pic shows. Asking what I paid, $75.
Two paper copies of the Guide to Making Model Horse Tack, from the first printing (1998). These are signed to family members, one my mother-in-law, the other my grandma. Neither of these people is around anymore, and the copies came back to me. I do not need these for my own collection of Guide printings 😊 but neither can I let them go for much less than their issue price. The airbrush was used once. I'm calling this photo my fifty-dollar shot because every item in it is $50:
Wire, wire, what's on fire?! I believe this pile had its origin in a desire to make miniature carousel poles. At a discount this is probably worth $10 a spool (the fine copper wire is free).
This assembly consists of 2 nifty model horse-drawn vehicle carriage lamps (or dollhouse lamps) and a miscellaneous pile of miniature dollhouse nails, screws, bolts and a pair of brass hinges (yellow card). There's also some metal snaphooks and eyebolts. Price to be determined.
Next up is some nice white cord and string spools (including 1 nylon sinew), a little rawhide lacing and white leather lace, half a dozen small gauge wire spools, fishline, a wool dauber, some plastic lace (pink & black), a nice large-Trad-scale broom and what appears to be 2 slabs of hard wax (pink and green) for lost-wax casting. Again, price TBD.
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Ruth, my mother-in-law, was an accomplished needlewoman. She made quilts, cross stitch and needlepoint decorations. This photo shows her really nice pinking shears on a lace tablecloth, a box with floss samples and lots of floss wrapping-cards (I don't have the word for these), a collection of measuring tapes and a fabulous wooden holder for cording.
Her son, my husband, confided that it was one of Ruth's life goals to obtain every color of embroidery floss made. That she achieved this should be known and paid forward. Here is her assortment of homemade floss holders plus a terrific wooden one. Yes, there's more floss behind those cards.
There was originally a great collection of thread spools, but the son had first claim and he made off with most of them. These remain:
This is close to the heart of Ruth's collection: 4 pairs of scissors, 2 thimbles, a lot of needles, a box of pins, 2 pincushions and a hard plastic needle case (yellow/clear). Old fashioned but very effective.
This assortment of needlepoint bookmarks has got 3 finished-or-nearly-finished and 6 others. It has a price on the package of forty dollars, to my surprise.
Although I intend to carry out my promise to give away her stuff, I am attracted by the idea of a charitable donation. One of the best descriptions of Ruth was that "she sure knew how to pick a charity." It was a strength of hers.
In case you're wondering where the Aida cloth part is, recall that the Timaru Star II makes needlepoint Western saddle-blankets from Aida cloth...
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Speaking of the Timaru Star II, did you ever see such a wild mess of miscellaneous scraps in your life! Even I don't know what's in these bags! If anyone sees something they've gotta have, let me know and I'll deliver it at BreyerFest (but not before). I think I'll let folk pick through them in room 612 if there's anything left. This really is free-to-good-home, though I won't turn down a donation.
In this photo, there's a piece of brown nylon (or vinyl) sheer on a peel-and-stick backing (the dark brown rectangle at top), a red-&-white corona blanket made from plush and felt-tip, some leather scraps, a bunch of empty findings envelopes and (far more interesting but far more useless) 2 bags of Never-to-be-Used Freaks of Nature. I must have outgrown the drawers I originally had for this class of stuff and bundled them in here.
Odd bits of leather, of tack, of braidwork, small broken items, a metal currycomb I made out of the teeth from a Saran Wrap box. There is just no telling!
For example, here's the above photo's upper right bag's lower right corner: That grate-looking thing is a 13mm ikandi iron-on cut full of holes, accompanied by a genuine braided-thread ring (two-color edge braiding around a jump ring). Above their tiny cute tray (itself a plastic buckle) is at least one solid metal watch gear under a leather scrap.
Here's another photo of the same species:
Perhaps the leather can be stamping practice for somebody, as it was for me.
This last photo I do know what is. It's some kapok plus two plastic sheets, one white one black, embossed with perfectly-in-scale rubber floormat pattern for model horse-drawn vehicles. They could also be used for stalls and barns. See, it isn't all madness.
Thank you for picking through with me. Happy hunting!
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